boundaries between Judaism and Christianity were extremely por-
ous well into late antiquity. This hints at how religious curiosity
could lead to conversion. The Acts of the Apostlesmentions
repeatedly how Paul made converts of Greeks – that is, pagans/
gentiles – when preaching at Jewish gatherings. Such Greeks are
calledsebomenoi(orphoboumenoi)ton theon, meaning ‘God-
fearers’ (Levinskaya 1996: 120–6). They apparently attended the
synagogue out of interest in learning about the Jewish religion.
Inscriptions, especially from Asia Minor, suggest that these
gentile/pagan ‘god-fearers’ were not (as was once supposed) the
convenient invention of the author of Acts. They describe indi-
viduals, most of them apparently non-Jews, as theosebeis, which
means ‘god-worshippers’ and the designation is perhaps analo-
gous to the ‘god-fearers’ mentioned in Acts. Moreover, the
inscriptions show that many of these ‘god-worshippers’ occupied
prominent positions as patrons of their local Jewish communities
(Levinskaya 1996: 51–126). Perhaps, as people with a specula-
tive interest in other forms of religion, they were predisposed to
listen sympathetically to Paul’s preaching.
Recent study of sources (mainly inscriptions, again) relating
to the cult of Theos Hypsistos (‘the most high god’) has under-
lined the blurring of religious boundaries in antiquity (Mitchell
1999; cf. Levinskaya 1996: 83–103). This cult was widespread
throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Near East between the
Hellenistic period and late antiquity. The focus of devotion was
a remote, abstract deity who was often associated with messen-
gers called ‘angels’ (in Greek, angelosmeans a messenger). In
some places, the cult had strong pagan characteristics, through
association of Theos Hypsistos with Zeus and other gods. This
was not, however, its only manifestation. The term theos hypsistos
was used by Diaspora Jews to describe their own God in Greek.
It is often impossible to tell whether inscriptions recording dedi-
cations to Theos Hypsistos refer to a pagan god or the Jewish
one. Indeed, many such dedications come from cities that had
Jewish Diaspora communities. Furthermore, the worshippers of
Theos Hypsistos – in both pagan and Jewish contexts – described
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